After doing the reading and the short webinar this week there were a few things I was left pondering. How can we expand and build our students literary character in the classroom? According to Muhammad, "literary character is a personal and academic characteristic a person developed as a result of their engagement in literary pursuits." (Muhammad, 2020, p. 28) She also talks about how literary pursuits can build character, as well as build student's confidence in reading, writing, and sharing their ideas. She gives the idea of honoring people's work within the community. Does she mean that we should publish and show praise to our students in order to build their confidence and leave them wanting to share more of their ideas? What are some more ways to get students to participate in these literary pursuits that lead to liberation?
Another thought I had was regarding the Zretta Hammond video. She talks about how to get students connected to help them to not have the stress response of trauma. What specifically can teachers do to help the students connect? Does she mean finding areas of interest so that they can connect to those things instead of having that trauma response? She also talked about knowing our students Aces score and how it can help us to be proactive. What are some ways we can reduce stress for students with trauma in our classroom. I have many students who come from various backgrounds that have many trauma responses to different situations. I would like to be more knowledgeable on how to avoid the trauma response and instead be proactive and get them connected to something else.
After reading the Yoon article I am still left wondering why aren't the skills in the home considered relevant literacy skills? In what ways can these skills every become considered important? Given the stories from the Yoon article, I find it interesting that individuals can have these great literacy skills that they developed before entering school and that they are not acknowledged. If children can learn to speak, read and write before they enter school, then I think it is important to give credit to the learning that takes place in the home. Many times children come from homes that do not include many books and anyone reading to them but they still develop these literacy skills from their family telling stories or learning traditions they might have. I wonder if at home skills will every be deemed important?
One quote from Goldie Muhammad's book that I found inspiring was: "Our correspondents are too few, when there are so many who ought to write and so much to write about, upon, a case too, so urgent in itself. We call upon our old correspondents who have been silent too long, to wake up, let us hear from you...Brethren let us hear from you, it will make the paper interesting, and interest the people, and do good..." (Muhammad, 2020, p. 28) I thought this quote was inspiring because it honors the work that black people do and lets them know that their voices are being heard.
Another statement that I really liked was: "Through their reading and writing, they still practiced joy and cultivated love." (Muhammed, 2020, p. 33) I really like how this quote explains how literacy was tied to love and joy. The author explains how black people engaged in practices to improve their hears and their aesthetic sensibility. I found this important because our content that we teach doesn't often include relating it to joy and love.
One commitment I will make to my students is to find out as much as I can about them in order to be authentic in their learning and also be able to connect to them. I want my student to feel comfortable in sharing their ideas with me as much as possible.
Amanda C, I am so appreciative that you brought up Muhammad's theme of literary character. The idea that to teach students to be literate means we need to also help them develop a sense of moral responsibility to using the language they learn to empower themselves and to make change in the world is certainly a different goal than what we see in the Next Generation standards for ELA. You asked how teacher might be able to encourage this with students and I thought it interesting that an answer might be included in the quote you pulled "wake up, let us hear from you...Brethren let us hear from you, it will make the paper interesting, and interest the people, and do good." I see that children need to believe that their voices, their ideas are of value (like Yoon advocates). If we can create more spaces for our students to experience learning in this way, then this might also help to reduce moments of trauma for our students?
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